Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers,
1939, General, The British Commonwealth and Europe, Volume II

Vatican:

Contents

The sending of a special representative to
the Vatican had evidently been considered by the President for some
time. The letter of August 1, 1939, from Under Secretary of State
Welles to President Roosevelt and the correspondence with Ambassador
Phillips at Rome therein referred to appears to be the earliest
record of consideration by the Department of State of such
representation.↩